About The Name

The Fuzzy Pig is actually a cat

How did Farmer Kraus arrive at the name “The Fuzzy Pig?”

“Renovating our barn into a country mall took years,” Kraus explained. "When our family farm was still a working dairy farm, we used to have lots of stray cats that would stop by for a free meal. But after we stopped running our dairy farm, the cats no longer stopped by. No free food, no strays looking for a meal."

“One day when we were working on converting our barn into the country mall, a big wild cat showed up. We couldn’t get near it at first. However, every morning, [my brother-in-law] Roger [Gransee], a big coffee drinker, would bring coffee for us while we worked on the renovation. Roger took his coffee black, but I took mine with cream, so Roger would always bring me a few creamers from the truck stop where he would pick up our daily coffee. Wouldn't you know it, that cat seemed interested in my creamers, so Roger started bringing a couple extra creamers for the cat and we'd pour the creamers in a small dish. Each morning, that cat would show up for his creamers. It was amazing; back then there were a lot of minivans on the road, but that cat could always tell it was Roger’s minivan arriving with more creamers. When he’d see that van, he would run to the dish for his daily treat.”

“Once we got the cat somewhat tamed, he decided to move into the barn, so we set up a little bed for him. We put down a big piece of foam and hung a heat lamp. He loved that. All he did was lay under the heat lamp. We were having some cold winters; the only time he would get up from under the heat lamp was to get fed. With all those creamers and all that laying around, our adopted feline friend got huge. About the same time, the truck stop started rationing our creamers. Roger was taking 50-60 creamers each morning to satisfy our friend; but after the truckstop put a stop to our creamers, word spread about our new friend, and a buddy of mine who owns a trucking firm would occassionally send over a damaged pallet of creamers. Our cat had literally a limitless supply of his beloved creamers.”

“On the country mall front, Roger and I were seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for our construction work. We had been discussing names for the place for weeks, but we couldn’t agree on one. We wanted it to be something that stuck in our customers' minds when they heard it. While we were discussing names, the cat walked by us to get some more creamers. I blurted out ‘look at that fuzzy pig’ a joke to make Roger laugh. We looked at each other. I mighta had something with that name. For days we kept attempting to shoot the idea down, but ultimately we felt it would stick in our customers' heads once they heard it. I think we got it right.”

What happened to the country mall's namesake, the creamer cat?

“Our feline friend was a mightly popular guy. After a fathering a few litters, it became quite clear he wasn't the "family man" type. He decided to retire to a quieter farm somewhere else. Now our feline friend's daughter Whitney rules the roost, and she is the only cat allowed inside the country mall, now named "The Fuzzy Pig" after her father. However, Kraus continues to honor the namesake by feeding strays (cat food, not creamers), making The Fuzzy Pig is a hit on the "stray-feline circuit," going through twenty pounds or more of cat food each day.